GENTRIFUCKATION – GENTRIFICATION IN BERLIN

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Gentrification is slowly attacking Berlin after being almost done with London and Paris. In the German capital, it’s an army descending from Kreuzberg to Neukölln stealing leather sofas and expresso machines on the way. An English philosophy teacher explains how this process triggers a circle of poverty and hate in the city centre.

They took over Prenzlauer Berg. They took over Kreuzberg. Mitte fell into their purse a long time ago. Who are they? What do they want? Why are they taking over? Those questions are tough ones to answer. I perceive gentrification as a process of giving an area a face-lift – just without any previous warning. A neighbourhood that was socially deprived and nearly abandoned has in a few short years, filled with trendy bars and clubs, and now a coffee or a beer costs twice as much as it used to. Good for business you say?

Of course it is and that’s the main issue. The gentrification phenomenon is pushing workers out of the central city to give way for international students, artists and so on. The first step in the process is the broke student searching for a cheap rent. He or she will turn towards those former crappy districts in order to be able to live sparingly. One student attracts another; soon a district will be overflowing with people who want to move there. Here is the tricky part. Soon as the rentiers and other building owners realize this, they will increase their prices out of the blue to make the area “good to live in” again. By that expression, I mean good for the people with money, which is the goal of the investors. Their dream, as usual is to make the much money as possible.

The fall of the wall, Berlin becoming capital of Germany again, the nightlife of this city are well known all around Europe; those facts triggered this phenomenon nearly finished in Paris or London. The speculative investments along with the people taking advantage of prices is turning Berlin’s town centre into a museum of itself, a museum not even affordable for the people who live there. The only victims are the silent ones without any weapons to fight against the process. The workers are being squeezed between increasing rents and prices and their salaries do not increase in a similar fashion.

Landlords have, for example in Neukölln, flats and apartments that are uninhabitable, yet they still rent these for three of four hundreds euros a month – because they can. I witnessed this when trying to sublet a room in that very neighbourhood. The room I was in was small and dirty, and the subletter made ample profit to pay rent and his holidays through what I was paying. A lot of people are searching for accommodation so I had no choice but rent it.

Gentrification could be a healthy process, triggering a melting pot, a jambalaya of workers, students, families and artists from every part of the world. They could share their background and their culture but the opposite process is underway. Take Neukölln as an example, the Turkish community does not have the same lifestyle as the new trendy people coming into Berlin. A place for tea and shisha does not have the same customers as the new cool bar with Lou Reed and Jim Morrison hanging in the toilets. The time schedule does not match either, as can be seen in Neukölln, often you can witness a half-drunk western kid yelling at the Turkish späti (Late night shop in Berlin) because he does not have any alcohol.

This has resulted in two communities containing themselves, not sharing and not remotely interested in what the other has to offer, there is a split in the habits of consumption and a split in how the other is perceived. To make things worse, one community is being pushed out because of the increasing rents, whilst the other is gently settling in the city for short, middle or long term. It’s a real tragedy. This process encourages reactionary ghettoization and animosity is triggered towards the other community.

Is the mayor supposed to do something? Yes of course, but his only answer is “be happy that the money is flowing in your neighbourhood”, well the money is not for everybody, but then again, sometimes the authorities must be reminded that when you leave everything according to the invisible hand, the workers just get a couple of fingers up their arses.

The only solution that I see for the future would be to put a cap-on the rent, which seems almost impossible in today’s world, in a system where everything is economically connected, everything has a value and can be speculated on. Disconnecting the housing market in Berlin from the rest of the world would be difficult to achieve – but I say let’s change the system. For all those that want to come to Berlin and want to rent here – refuse the high prices, refuse to go in gentrified bars and areas, the power is in our hands. Let’s take it back!

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your view is skewed, simplistic, superficial and idiotic at best. how many turkish friends do you have? but also, have you asked yourself, how many ‘original neukölln’ people want to be friends with you?

respecting different parts of the community doesn’t mean having to be friends with them or sharing shishas’ and “splitting the habits of consumption”. we can all share a city, respect each other, not be friends, and still form a thriving and functional community. for every ‘western kid’ abusing a spätie seller, (have lived here in NK for 3+ years and never witnessed one of these incidents, but anyways…) you’ll have an arab man hissing at a girl jogging in shorts. things like this happen, because ignorants come in a variety of colors. we mustn’t be naive, a big city will invariably host a lot of them.

also, i take it you’re as new as the evil gentrifiers you so much disdain. or maybe you came here 10 years ago, and have the ‘first immigrant’ complex. get rid of it. playing the ‘i was were here first’ puts you on the same level of nationalistic and xenophobic that you probably go to protests against.

Mieterhöhung is a problem which can be efficiently and systematically solved in only one way: by changing the laws, and regulating the ways people can speculate on the housing market. our grandfathers (or mine at least) have fought to give us a political system which can be changed from the inside, and it’s not as closed as we think.

and here’s another provocation: refusing to go in ‘gentrified bars and areas’ will just achieve one thing, you’ll gentrify the new havens you go to.

in the system you confusedly describe, you’re part of the problem.

Borja

First of all, I think that you missed the point that is NOT the opinion of the journalist, is the “English philosophy teacher” the one who is giving his point of view.

On the other hand I think he’s trying to to explain a concept that EXISTS, even if we like it or not, so the line “your view is skewed, simplistic, superficial and idiotic at best” it’s a very disrespectful and misinformed way to answer (I really think that this is not your case but somehow you felt attacked and it looks like your leading by anger sometimes).

My point is, correct me if I’m wrong, that you’re taking this as a personal attack to a group in particular when the concept is based on the social behaviour and not the invidual one. He’s talking about the richness of cultures that this city is offering and how sad is not to inmerse on them and the FACT that money crush society and culture everyday.

Last thing is about the way to change the law. I used to think that jurisdictional framework is something that easily evolves with human development but it’s not…and makes me wonder if this would have embarrassed our grandfathers that fought for them. In Spain we watch people on the news commiting suicide because they couldn’t afford to paid their mortages, being forced to loose their houses and keep on paying to the banks…..what the goverment is doing to change this abusive law, is still being a mistery…

ali

i didnt read the comments but i liked the article. but the last words “refuse to go in gentrified bars and areas, the power is in our hands. Let’s take it back!” are very ridicolous i think. i mean isnt you and i think moste of the readers hear doing most of the stuff what you describe in all the rest of the article.

Grepache Trucidant

I think what the journalist wanted to say with that conclusion is some bars are taking advantage of the situation and are performing prices that do not correspond to the wages of the city. They expect people to pay for the “coolness” of it. The point is clear, money destroys everything, try to avoid it as you much as you can.